The EastAfrican MAGAZINE DECEMBER 12-18,2015 conse≥vation Human activity slowly killing the Ndoto massifs With the sudden influx of livestock and settlements in Ngu≥unit, the landscape began to change. By RUPI MANGAT massifs of the Ndoto mountains in the drylands of northern Kenya. A pair of vultures soaring in the clear blue skies breaks the ice. “Those birds roost on a tree at W the Kenya Agricutural Research Institute (KARI) oŒce in the village,” says David Leleruk, a member of the local environmental committee. “They are vultures.” I ask the three members of the environmental group Leleruk, Ilpanyaye Lepate and Nangaya Lepoipiring — if they know what species of vultures they are but they don’t know. I also ask if they know the bearded vulture or the lammergeyer, once common in massif with sheer rock faces pockmarked with crevices — like Mount Poi that looms over us. They don’t. The lammergeyer was first sighted and recorded in Poi in the 1970s by mountaineers. The trio know nothing of this vulture that has now disappeared. Instead they tell of another vulture now seen by the few herders that venture up the mountain with their livestock. From their description, it sounds like the Egyptian vulture. Vanishing vultures Six of Africa’s 11 vulture species — the continent’s largest and most recognisable birds of prey — are now at a high risk of extinction, according to the latest assessment of birds carried out by BirdLife International for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The IUCN Red List is the world’s most comprehensive information source on the conservation status of plant and animal species. In the past two decades, most vul- ture species in Africa and Asia have declined by up to 95 per cent. The consequences of the rapid decline are potentially dire. In the absence of vultures, the spread of diseases from rotting carcasses is real. The vulture roosting in the village turns out to be the Hooded Vulture (necrosyrtes monachus). It’s listed amongst the six of the African vultures which has been uplisted from endangered to critically endangered. The Egyptian Vulture (neophron percnopterus) is also critically endangered while the Bearded Vulture (gypaetus barbatus) is listed as near threatened because it has a larger e’re seated at the Lemunyete homestead in the village of Ngurunit surrounded by the range in the mountains of Ethiopia and parts of Asia. They also describe other big birds that were common here until the 1990s. These are the Nkililie (eagle), and the lungup (owl) besides the vultures. Now, few are seen. Leleruk further says, “We had all wildlife here. Elephants, giraffes, zebra, buffaloes, lions. And when the lions killed livestock, the vultures came for the carcasses. But things began to change rapidly after the 1970s. The beginnings of Ngurunit The Lemunyete family is one of the first to settle in Ngurunit in the early 1970s. Then, Ngurunit was a watering point for the pastoral Samburu because the river Ngurunit never dried. Then Christian missionaries came and built a water hole and tap and the Samburu community began to settle, followed by the Rendille and their herds of camel. “Until 1974, there was no permanent settlement in Ngurunit,” says Samson Lenguka Lebitiling the assistant chief of Ngurunit. With the sudden influx of live- stock and settlements, the landscape began to change. “By 1990, the rivers and streams, which had never run dry, were drying up during the dry season because forests were being cleared for firewood, and livestock grazed higher up in the mountains, sand harvested from the rivers and stone quarried for construction,” recalls Leleruk. By 1990, droughts were common place in Ngurunit, with every two years communities needing famine relief food, something that used to happen once a decade. But it wasn’t just the rivers that were drying up and the droughts more frequent. Mt Poi in Ngurunit in the Ndoto Mountains. Picture: Rupi Mangat unknown Unlike the more accessible forests and massifs of southern Kenya like the Taita Hills where the alarm has been raised by research scientists monitoring the indigenous forests for years, the Ndotos of Samburu are almost unknown to the public. V POLLUTION Data shows emissions have peaked I ndust≥ial emissions of g≥eenhouse gases ≥ose only slightly in 2014 and appea≥ to be on t≥ack to decline in 2015, acco≥ding to new data that ≥aise the possibility that a pe≥iod of ≥apid global emissions g≥owth may be coming to an end. The decline of 0.6 pe≥ cent p≥o- jected fo≥ this yea≥, should it come to pass, would be highly unusual at a time when the global economy is g≥owing. The p≥ojection cont≥asts sha≥ply with emissions g≥owth that ave≥aged 2.4 pe≥ cent a yea≥ du≥ing the past decade, and sometimes topped 3 pe≥ cent. The new figu≥es we≥e ≥eleased The Lemunyete family in Ngurunit. Picture: Rupi Mangat Honey, which had always been in plenty in the area, became scarce. “Before 1978, we always had asali (honey),” recalls Lepoipiring. “But when the cows began grazing in the hills, they trampled on everything. They grazed on the flowers that the bees came for, and the bees left. “We are pastoral people,” says Lep- oipiring. “If we are left with nothing, nobody will come to Ngurunit. We want our wildlife back because wild animals are a valuable resource. We know of community conservancies where wildlife is attracting tourists and investors, where lodges are being built, creating jobs for the locals and bringing in money. We want to restore Ngurunit to its former glory when rivers flowed all year around and there was wildlife.” Research and development “From 1976 to 1982, there was some research carried out by Unesco,” says Samson Lenguka Lebitiling, the assistant chief of Ngurunit. But since then, there’s been little or no research to monitor the changes in the ranges. “Kenya’s sky island forests have a crucial role as watershed protection and livestock grazing areas for nomadic peoples during droughts,” says Dr Luca Borghesio, a forest biologist and ornithologist who is among the few researchers documenting the montane forests of the equally little known Mathews Range that neighbours the Ndoto mountains in northern Kenya. “Lack of awareness and knowl- edge translates into lack of action and therefore severe endangerment. The archipelago of forests is almost removed from public attention, despite having huge importance for biodiversity conservation, and a number of endemic species,” says Dr Borghesio. With inadequate funding from the government and only a few forest rangers to patrol the ranges where the last of the wildlife is found, the future of Kenya’s little known forests hangs in the balance. at the climate confe≥ence in Le Bou≥get, F≥ance, on Monday by the Global Ca≥bon P≥oject, a collabo≥ation that studies emissions, and published simultaneously in the jou≥nal Natu≥e Climate Change. Past emissions declines have usually been linked to economic dist≥ess, such as the global financial panic of 2009 and the Russian economic meltdown of the late 1990s. The new figu≥es suggest that the≥e is a chance that global emissions have al≥eady peaked and may be sta≥ting a long-te≥m decline, expe≥ts said, which would be an impo≥tant inflection point fo≥ the inte≥national e≠o≥t to limit the ≥isks of global wa≥ming. But the expe≥ts with the Global Ca≥bon P≥oject said they did not conside≥ that to be likely. Instead, emissions g≥owth may ≥esume as the Chinese economy ≥ecove≥s f≥om a pe≥iod of slow g≥owth and as India pu≥sues a plan to double its bu≥ning of coal in powe≥ plants, pa≥t of a p≥og≥amme to b≥ing 300 million poo≥ village≥s onto the powe≥ g≥id. “Emissions in India a≥e at the same level as China in the 1990s,” said Glen P. Pete≥s, an analyst with a climate cente≥ in Oslo who spoke at a news confe≥ence he≥e. Pete≥s added that in coming yea≥s, India “could actually dominate the global g≥owth in the way that China has done in the past.” Still, the≥e is some hope that emissions g≥owth in coming yea≥s will be slowe≥ than in the past decade, Pete≥s and othe≥ expe≥ts said, especially as count≥ies sta≥t acting on climate pledges they have made this yea≥. Climate negotiato≥s we≥e meeting in a huge confe≥ence in Le Bou≥get, a Pa≥is subu≥b, hoping to ≥each a deal by late≥ in the week that commits vi≥tually eve≥y count≥y in the wo≥ld to taking at least some steps to battle global wa≥ming. The new data show that indust≥ial emissions ≥ose 0.6 pe≥ cent in 2014. That yea≥ was the hottest in ≥eco≥ded histo≥y, but it is almost ce≥tain to be exceeded by 2015. New Yo≥k Times News Se≥vice